title: The stabilization of fused-pentagon fullerene molecules.
abstract: The isolated pentagon rule (IPR) is now widely accepted as a general rule for determining the stability of all-carbon fullerene cages composed of hexagons and pentagons. Fullerenes that violate this rule have been deemed too reactive to be synthesized. The stabilization of non-IPR endohedral fullerenes depends on charge transfer from the encapsulated metal clusters (endoclusters) to fullerene cages, the electronic properties of empty all-carbon cages, the matching size and geometries of fullerene and endocluster, as well as the strong coordination of the metal ions to fused pentagons. The stability of non-IPR exohedral fullerenes can be rationalized primarily by both the 'strain-relief' and 'local-aromaticity' principles. This Review focuses on recent work on stabilization of non-IPR fullerenes, including theoretical and empirical principles, experimental methods, and molecular structures of fused-pentagon fullerenes characterized so far. The special chemical properties of non-IPR fullerenes that distinguish them from IPR-satisfying ones are also emphasized.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, and Department of Chemistry, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005, China.
authors.forename: Yuan-Zhi
authors.initials: YZ
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.forename: Su-Yuan
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.forename: Rong-Bin
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Lan-Sun
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Zheng
mesh_terms: D037741:Fullerenes / Q000737:chemistry*; D008958:Models, Molecular; D015394:Molecular Structure
chemical_list: D037741:Fullerenes